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Monday, June 20, 2005
I'm not really reading anything - i'm just hooking up with a new book every night.
As it happens, iv been thinking about a few lines from a few books iv been reading this week. Im not likely to finish any of these any time soon but they suit that cos they're non-fiction - in particular, essays, criticism, reviews, pieces ..
"because when we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something ... but that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen .. and then is when we are in bad trouble. And I suspect we are already there."
I thought about this in the context of what the writer was writing about - "On Morality," the piece was called - Is it better to do something because you think it is right or just because you want to or need to do it ? Thats not a question we usually ask ourselves. We think we know the answer.
She thinks doing something cos it's "right" is a bad, bad thing. Although doing the "thing" in itself might have value. "It's how things get done." The value lies in the getting gear done not the why ? Anyhow, some of these things made me think. I didnt say i came to any conclusions.
The American writer, Joan Didion, wrote this in 1965 in "Slouching towards Bethlehem."
On a lighter and slightly more comprehensible note in Martin Amis' "The war against cliche," every line crackles with the ease of a sparkler when yr off your trolley.
Just a couple, and he's just such an entertaining bugger, "when Mr Rhodes gets grateful and reverent, you have to read the sentence twice, even though you didnt want to read it once."
"the liberated society tends towards its own brand of triteness .." you could put this in The Guide about Big Brother and draw a line under it.
Just to show you, if i'm going to open the book randonly to a page and point to a line - here it goes. Pg 238 " and when Lecter is guilty of forgetfulness he says, "Bother!" - not "Shit!" or "Fuck!" like the rest of us. It's all in the details." You really need the lines either side of it.
And the third and final book, Chuck Palahniuk's, "Non-Fiction". Great title. he wrote "Fight Club."
"people want to see new ways of connecting" ..
"we live our lives according to stories and we spend our lives looking for evidence - facts and proof - that support our story."
Iv had a feeling there's some sort of connection here .. maybe, and right now my thinking on this might resemble a suburban dad hosing a driveway, but can we draw a straight line between this and Didion ?
Didion talks about living according to what we want and what we need. These are the facts and the proof of our stories. And Chuck says the stories make are what makes a life.
Novels really are much easier.
"because when we start deceiving ourselves into thinking not that we want something or need something ... but that it is a moral imperative that we have it, then is when we join the fashionable madmen .. and then is when we are in bad trouble. And I suspect we are already there."
I thought about this in the context of what the writer was writing about - "On Morality," the piece was called - Is it better to do something because you think it is right or just because you want to or need to do it ? Thats not a question we usually ask ourselves. We think we know the answer.
She thinks doing something cos it's "right" is a bad, bad thing. Although doing the "thing" in itself might have value. "It's how things get done." The value lies in the getting gear done not the why ? Anyhow, some of these things made me think. I didnt say i came to any conclusions.
The American writer, Joan Didion, wrote this in 1965 in "Slouching towards Bethlehem."
On a lighter and slightly more comprehensible note in Martin Amis' "The war against cliche," every line crackles with the ease of a sparkler when yr off your trolley.
Just a couple, and he's just such an entertaining bugger, "when Mr Rhodes gets grateful and reverent, you have to read the sentence twice, even though you didnt want to read it once."
"the liberated society tends towards its own brand of triteness .." you could put this in The Guide about Big Brother and draw a line under it.
Just to show you, if i'm going to open the book randonly to a page and point to a line - here it goes. Pg 238 " and when Lecter is guilty of forgetfulness he says, "Bother!" - not "Shit!" or "Fuck!" like the rest of us. It's all in the details." You really need the lines either side of it.
And the third and final book, Chuck Palahniuk's, "Non-Fiction". Great title. he wrote "Fight Club."
"people want to see new ways of connecting" ..
"we live our lives according to stories and we spend our lives looking for evidence - facts and proof - that support our story."
Iv had a feeling there's some sort of connection here .. maybe, and right now my thinking on this might resemble a suburban dad hosing a driveway, but can we draw a straight line between this and Didion ?
Didion talks about living according to what we want and what we need. These are the facts and the proof of our stories. And Chuck says the stories make are what makes a life.
Novels really are much easier.
